Are New Execution Drugs 'Cruel and Unusual'?

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Dennis McGuire, convicted of the rape and murder of a pregnant
woman in 1989, was executed today in Ohio using a combination of
two drugs that had never before been used in an execution.

Attorneys for McGuire and medical experts argued that the use of
the drugs represented an unconstitutional, " cruel
and unusual" execution, because of the possibility that
McGuire would be conscious and in pain as he died.

"Ohio is taking drugs that are normally used for things like a
colonoscopy, and they're giving massive overdoses to kill
people," Dr. Jonathan Groner, a professor of clinical surgery at
The Ohio State University, told
TIME. "They're using them for their toxic side effects."
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What is this deadly two-drug combination — which U.S. District
Court Judge Gregory Frost referred to as an "experiment" during
McGuire's appeal process — and how effective were these drugs at
executing a man as quickly and humanely as possible?

A lethal combination

The first drug McGuire received, midazolam, is in a class of
drugs called benzodiazepines, which are prescribed by doctors to
treat anxiety, seizures and insomnia. Midazolam is also used as a
sedative before medical procedures or with anesthesia before
surgery, since it causes drowsiness, relieves anxiety and induces
memory loss.

High doses of midazolam, which begins to work very rapidly, can
also cause breathing to slow or stop, according to the National
Institutes of Health. The toxic effects of midazolam are
increased when the drug is combined with alcohol, an older class
of antidepressants called tricyclic antidepressants or opiates.

Hydromorphone, an opiate
painkiller, is the second drug that McGuire received.
Sometimes referred to as dihydromorphinone, it's a derivative of
morphine that's sometimes prescribed in lieu of other pain drugs
such as hydrocodone or oxycodone.

Like all opiates, hydromorphone has a history of abuse by
recreational drug users; overdoses can result in death from
respiratory collapse (when breathing stops) or circulatory
collapse (when the heart stops).

When combined, the sedative midazolam and the painkiller
hydromorphone will cause a person to lose consciousness rather
quickly before their breathing slows, until it finally stops. And
according to media reports, that's what happened at 10:53 a.m.
EST today (Jan. 16), when McGuire was pronounced dead.

After receiving the drugs intravenously, "McGuire was still for
almost five minutes, then emitted a loud snort, as if snoring,
and continued to make that sound over the next several minutes,"
according to the
Associated Press.

McGuire made a coughing sound at 10:43 a.m., and was pronounced
dead 10 minutes later. The process took more than 15 minutes,
according to the Associated Press.

A 'failed' experiment?

McGuire's attorneys were quick to condemn the manner in which
their client was executed. "The people of the state of Ohio
should be appalled at what was done here today in their names,"
federal public defender Allen Bohnert told the AP. He also called
McGuire's death "a failed, agonizing experiment."

Many states that permit capital punishment have been searching
for
alternative drugs to use in executions. The three drugs most
commonly used in the past — sodium thiopental, pancuronium
bromide and potassium chloride — are harder for states to
purchase now.

In fact, the U.S. manufacturer of sodium thiopental has stopped
making the drug, and European manufacturers have refused to sell
it to states that plan to use it for lethal injections.

As a result, some states have been forced to buy drugs from
compounding pharmacies, which make custom medications and, in
some cases, are subject to fewer safety regulations. In 2012, an
outbreak of
fungal meningitis that killed 64 people was traced back to a
compounding pharmacy in Massachusetts.